Lebanese Cooking and Optional Garden Tour with a Local Family in Beirut - Day Trip — CALL

Tania is an agronomist and food safety specialist who loves singing, playing the piano, and traveling. Her parents will also be part of your Traveling Spoon experience and will help with the cooking and hosting. Her father is a former butcher and is very serious about his meats! Now he is retired and grows fruits and vegetables in their family garden on the outskirts of Beirut. He also enjoys making his own arak (the Lebanese national alcoholic drink made from grapes and anise seeds). Most of the produce for the home comes from the garden and is local, fresh and organic. Tania’s mother is a home chef who has been cooking traditional meals for the family all her life using family recipes. They are a family who enjoys gardening, talking about food, cooking and eating together. Enter into Tania's home, a traditional, modest home with old world charm. Tania has immense knowledge about Lebanese food and ingredients and is happy to share that knowledge and passion with you. After you chatting with the family, your meal will be served in their home dining room. Enjoy traditional Lebanese dishes during your meal such as stuffed vine leaves, fasolia w riz (beans with rice), mujaddara (lentils), or Lebanese meatballs in tahini sauce or yogurt. End your meal with Lebanese coffee and a selection of fruits and homemade jams from the family garden. If you book a cooking experience, join Tania and her mother in their small but accommodating kitchen for a hands-on cooking class which will last about 45 minutes to an hour. Learn to make two of the dishes that you will be eating later, such as a traditional Lebanese mezza or mloukhieh (vegetable) and kibbeh labneh (yogurt soup). Tania and her mother will have prepared additional dishes in advance for your meal together. Tania also offers and optional tour of their large family garden, a short drive from their home. If this experience is booked, after meeting at Tania’s home, drive together to her family garden where Tania will give you a tour, explaining the different fruits, vegetables and plants grown by the family, and explaining how those ingredients are traditionally used in Lebanese cooking.